1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to processing of information within computer systems, and more particularly to backing up data present on computer systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
One common backup technique in use today is an “inode”-based backup. Standard backups and inode-based backups differ in the way that they send backup metadata (data describing the actual data to be backed up) from the location of the data to be backed up (e.g., “source” computer system) to the location where the backed up data is stored. In standard backup techniques, the data to be backed up that is present on the source computer system is sent as a stream to the backup location. In inode-based backups, the metadata is transmitted from the source computer system to the backup location in the form of “inode messages.” In some instances, a given inode may have two or more messages, each including different types of metadata. Upon receipt at the backup location, the various inode messages are processed to obtain the metadata. The received metadata may be assembled into a “catalog” to aid in the restoration process.
When inode metadata is sent in two (or more) parts, data integrity issues may be introduced if only one part of the metadata is received by the backup location. The fact that metadata is missing may go unnoticed until an attempt to browse the catalog is made—usually as part of an attempt to restore data from the backup location. Such discrepancies in the metadata can be extremely costly.
An improved method for performing inode-based backups is therefore desired.